Truman suffers big loss to H-H

By PAM RICHTER, Correspondent

Thursday

Mar 31, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Softball: Hatboro-Horsham 15, Harry S. Truman 1 - BRISTOL TWP. - Through the first three innings, Hatboro-Horsham senior shortstop Julie Wambold was one-person wrecking crew Wednesday against Harry S. Truman. After three innings, she had two home runs and five RBIs.

The rest of her Hatters joined in the fun during a nine-run fourth inning. The scoring outburst secured a 15-1 victory against Truman, in a nonleague softball game shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

With the win, Hatboro-Horsham moved to 2-0 on the season, and Truman fell to 2-1.

"That's how we are," Hatboro-Horsham coach Joe DiFilippo said of his team's offensive outburst in the fourth. "I've got 12 kids that can play at any time. We've been waiting to explode all year."

Wambold's first home run came in the first inning after the first two batters got on. She said she wasn't so sure the ball was going to make it over the left-field fence.

"I think the first one was a changeup," Wambold said of the pitch. "I just sat back on it. I usually don't, but this time I did. I didn't think the first one was going to go out because it was a shot to the sky."

Truman freshman pitcher Caitlyn Brasier was able to settle down a bit in the rest of the first and, in the second, she retired three straight batters. But after issuing three straight walks to start the fourth, H-H got going offensively.

This time it, wasn't just Wambold, who did have a double in the inning, but the rest of the team that pieced things together. In the game, seven Hatters had RBIs, including three players with more than one.

"They have some excellent hitters," Truman coach Gretchen Cammiso said. "I think we came out a little flat, but what we took away from it was a learning lesson.

"We had a freshman on the mound. She got hit, but she just kept throwing strikes. From that standpoint, I'm happy. I'm happier today, than (Tuesday), when we won."

For the Hatters on the mound, junior Maggie Shaffer pitched three innings without allowing a hit and had five strikeouts.

Truman's only run of the game came on an Erin Robbins single in the fifth, scoring Nichole King. King reached base to start the inning with a walk.

"They have to come out focused and intense," Cammiso said. "A team is going to put balls in play, and they have to come ready. This year, it is going to take a total team effort. We have to wake up our bats and our intensity in the batter's box, and they have to be ready to play every single pitch."

DiFilippo said his Hatters just need to focus on the next game on the schedule and know that, this season, his team has a target on its back.

"It seems like everyone wants to beat us," he said. "If we just take one game at a time, (we'll) see where it takes us."